Iuze Mukube
Murder convict Robert Marlo McNab, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for stabbing his estranged wife to death with a pair of scissors, has been unsuccessful in his bid to obtain leave to appeal his sentence in the Supreme Court.
McNab faced one count of housebreaking with intent to murder, and murder, read with the provisions of the Combating of Domestic Violence Act in connection with the death of Dapeua Helen Onesmus (43) on 16 February 2024 in Windhoek.
McNab pladed not guilty to the charges in November last year and was subsequently convicted by acting judge Marilize du Plessis.
On 19 January 2026, he was sentenced to life imprisonment.
However, he applied for leave to appeal, contending against his sentence, arguing that the court misdirected itself in underemphasizing the fact that he was a first time offender and had no previous convictions.
McNab argued also that the court erred in failing to consider that he pleaded guilty and did not waste the courts time.
Among other grounds, he also stated the sentence imposed is shockingly inappropriate and induced a sense of shock and that no reasonable court would have imposed such a sentence when faced with the same set of facts. During sentencing, Judge du Plessis stated that his personal circumstances were outweighed by the seriousness of the crime.
The judge at the time lamented that severe sentences have become a norm by the court to combat the epidemic proportions of gender-based violence against women, but despite the effort, there seems to be no respite to the ongoing slaughter.
Regarding the nature of the offences, the judge regarded the offence as extremely serious because of the domestic violence context.
Primarily, the matter stems from the fact that, on 14 February 2024, two days before the incident, the accused, who was in Usakos at the time, was served with a combined summons depicting that the deceased had instituted divorce proceedings against him.
In Onesmus’ particulars of claim, she stated that “she did not receive any love or affection from the accused, that the accused failed to meaningfully communicate with her and that he abused alcohol”.
On 16 February 2024, McNab travelled to Windhoek to pick up some of his property at the deceased’s flat in Rocky Crest, where the deceased lived alone with her son (14), born from a previous relationship.
He accessed the garage at Onesmus’ residence, waited for her and attacked and stabbed her at least 27 times with a knife and scissors when she arrived home with her son.
At the time, the deceased was heard by a witness, screaming for him to stop but nothing. She was found lying in a pool of blood.
After stabbing the deceased, McNab allegedly attempted to commit suicide through a self-inflicted wound to the throat.
Windhoek High Court Judge Eileen Rakow on Friday ruling on the application, found that the mere possibility that another court may come to a different conclusion is insufficient to justify the granting of leave to appeal.
She found that, on the appellant’s grounds, situations can arise where a court may emphasise one factor at the expense of the others.
Judge Rakow found that his plea was considered, but as submitted by the State, he hardly had a choice given the weight of the evidence against him. She also found that it is clear that very hefty sentences are in general being handed down in incidents where the persons are convicted of murder in the domestic setting. Therefore, the sentence did not induce a sense of shock nor was it inappropriate.
She also found that McNab did not show that there was a reasonable prospect of success on appeal and dismissed the application.
McNab was represented by Rennie Strauss.
The post Wife killer denied leave to appeal appeared first on New Era.